Moscow Times: Germany's RMA to Supply Gazprom With Made-in-Russia Pipeline Equipment

Germany's RMA Pipeline Equipment, a major contractor for Russia's gas giant Gazprom, opened its biggest factory to date in central Russia on Wednesday, brushing off concerns that Western sanctions against Russia's oil and gas industry may turn Gazprom into a persona non grata for European firms.

RMA has invested 1.1 billion rubles ($32 million) into a plant in a special economic zone in Alabuga, Tartarstan, where production lines are gearing up to produce 500-millimeter-diameter pipeline valves, according to a joint statement from RMA's Russian subsidiary and Special Economic Zones, which manages the Alabuga site. Through 2021, the German company will invest another 600 million rubles ($17 million) into upgrades enabling the plant to produce valves of larger diameter.

Aside from Gazprom, RMA's supplies major oil and gas companies such as BASF, Chevron and Eni. RMA also supplied equipment for the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which transports Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Germany.
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